Shropshire Star

Shropshire's beers are toast of Britain

Drinkers across the country have been raising a glass or two to a Shropshire brewery which has won two prestigious awards at Britain's biggest beer festival.

Published

Salopian Brewery scooped two top prizes at the Great British Beer Festival, which was held at London's Olympia.

The brewery's Golden Thread received the silver award in the Best Strong Ale category, while Darwin's origin was among the awards for the second year running, this time taking the bronze medal in the Best Bitter section.

The brewery, which celebrates its 21st birthday this year, is based at Hadnall, near Shrewsbury. Last year Darwin's Origin was voted the third overall best beer in the festival.

"There are 1,100 breweries in the country, so it is a big honour to be recognised in this way," said Mr Douglas.

"You never expect anything at a beer competition, and getting to the final itself is a huge achievement, you have to win the local and regional contests to get this far.

"It's all blind testing, the judges do not know what they are drinking."

Golden Thread, which is five per cent in strength, is described as "a bright gold ale, using wheat and lager malt and flavoured with an infusion of aroma hop," giving "a hint of sweetness and a long fruit filled finish."

Darwin's Origin, which is 4.3 per cent in strength, is a copper-coloured ale described as having a "zesty aromatic flavour", which also won the Society of Independent Brewers gold medal in both 2010 and 2012.

The Great British Beer Festival featured a total of 900 beers on sale, including 13 from Shropshire and mid-Wales.

Overall winner was Cwtch Welsh Red Ale, from the Tiny Rebel Brewery in Newport, Gwent.

Titanic Brewery, from Stoke-on-Trent, which is owned by Stafford brothers Dave and Keith Bott, won the speciality beer class with its 4.9 per cent Plum Porter.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.